Red Green Group and Friends of Perivale Park
Lythrum salicaria or purple loosestrife is native to the UK (but considered eg a pest in areas like north America) and likes wet environments such as pond edges. Here are three volunteers planting 80 plugs into the edge of the ponds near the kids playground in the park.
Continue reading “Volunteers improving the ponds! Purple Loosestrife.”
Last autumn, the avenue of pear trees produced a wonderful orange-hued vista. Now a few months later, it is the turn of the blossom.
The river Brent flows along the southern edge of Perivale Park, on its way to joining the river Thames at Brentford. I thought here I would trace its route from (some) of its sources. The main route of the river starts in the London Borough of Barnet at Moat Mount, where it is called Dollis Brook. Much but not all of this route is walkable as the Dollis Valley Greenwalk.
Continue reading “The River Brent and (some of) its tributaries.”
To the west of Perivale park are to be found Northala Fields, the prominent features of which are the four tall mounds with two outstanding viewpoints at their tops. Now to the south west of Perivale an even larger feature is taking shape- Glade lane canalside park.
Continue reading “Glade Lane canalside park – monumental mounds!”
After the exquisite scent of lady’s bedstraw comes the very different but equally wonderful smell of the Linden tree (Tilia or Lime tree). The park has many of these, and they are at their flowering peak right now.
Are you one of those walkers who likes to see a bench to sit on when you visit a park? Fear not. The meadows to the east of the railway viaduct have lots of seating, in the form of nicely shaped rocks arrayed along the banks of the small stream that flows through the meadow feeding the largest pond. From which you can observe what is happening in the ponds themselves. Such as the marsh marigolds which are making a welcome reappearance; they were planted about four years ago, but last year’s show was very minimal. This year its a bit better, but too soon to say whether they will become permanently establish.
Continue reading “Seating galore from which to view the wildlife in the ponds.”
We caught a young heron in the process of swallowing a frog it had just caught. We often see herons in this location, the ponds near to the bridge across Coston’s Brook. This one was very fastidious, dipping the frog in the waters several times before swallowing it.
A park bench has mysteriously appeared near the “four ponds” area of the park, near the Cowgate road entrance. Its obviously old, and clearly has come from another home. But sitting on it, one has a lovely view of the ponds, which in retrospect clearly needed a bench from which to view them. And on a summer evening, it will make a perfect spot from which to observe bats, which we showed last year frequent the area.
Continue reading “A new (old) park bench – where did it come from?”